OPERANT CONDITIONING OPERANT CONDITIONING Form of learning in

OPERANT CONDITIONING

OPERANT CONDITIONING � Form of learning in which responses come to be controlled by consequences � B. F. Skinner � Skinner’s idea: organisms repeat responses that are followed by favorable consequences

REINFORCEMENT � When an event following a response increases an organisms tendency to make that response � Everyday behavior � Sometimes works only once � Works for one person, but may not for another

SKINNER BOX �A small enclosure � Animals can make a specific response while the consequences are controlled

REINFORCEMENT CONTINGENCIES � Circumstances that determine whether responses lead to the presentation of reinforcers � Experimenter manipulates whether positive consequences occur when the animal makes the designated response

CUMULATIVE RECORDER � Creates a graph record of responses and reinforcement in the Skinner Box

PRIMARY REINFORCERS � Events that are inherently reinforcing because they satisfy biological needs

SECONDARY REINFORCERS � Acquiring reinforcement by being associated with primary reinforcers � Events that depend on learning � Money, grades, attention, praise, style of clothing, cars, ….

ACQUISITION � Initial stage of learning � Different from Classical � Established through shaping

SHAPING � Repeatedly reinforcing closer to the desired response � Attempting to encourage the organism to move closer to the response � Skinner Box – experimenter shapes by releasing food pullets as the rat moves closer toward the lever.

EXTINCTION � Disappearance of response tendency � Begins when reinforcement stops � Resistance: when organism continues to make the response after the reinforcement has ended